Prejudice Is Not A Thousand Years Old

January 22, 2024 brought a formal message of anguish to India's 25 crore Muslims as well as crores of non-Hindu Indian citizens that a religious majority in the name of democracy in their country has formally announced a lease on authority, decision-making and distribution of resources. have done. The 42nd Amendment to the Constitution of India passed in 1976 still exists today, where it is written that India is a secular country. Here the state will have no religion and the state will not support any particular religion while recognizing all religions. However, on December 22, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi inaugurated the 70-acre Ram Temple in Ayodhya, Faizabad district, which is about 100 kilometers east of Lucknow, and said that this bridge has come after centuries of waiting.

This bridge is not to be missed. This is the beginning of a new era for India. At this time, we have to lay the foundation of the India of the next thousand years. It is as if India has been practically converted into a Hindu state and more than 30 crore non-Hindus have been reduced to second-class citizens. Being a secular citizen of Pakistan, I am sure that the supporters of religious division in our country will be happy with this news. The death of secularism in India will be presented as a justification for religious discrimination on our soil. The sense of a few patriotic voices in Pakistan is as desolate as the five-acre barren patch that the Supreme Court of India assigned for an alternative mosque on November 9, 2019.

I remember the night of December 6, 1992. In the office of The News located on the third floor of daily Jang Lahore, the editor Dr. Masoom Abidi was standing on the head of the sub-editor who prepared the front page while opening it in great anger. When I went there on some errand, he saw me and said in a mixed tone of provocation and warning, 'Don't object to the words of the headline'. What could I object to? Clause 20 and Clause 25 of the Constitution of Pakistan are engraved on my heart. On June 19, 2014, former Chief Justice Hon'ble Tasaddeq Hussain Jilani has strengthened my belief with a historic decision. I believe in equal political, economic and social rights of every citizen in Pakistan without any religious distinction. I believe that the basic duty of the state and its citizens is to unconditionally respect the right of every citizen to believe and to peacefully resist any discrimination or discrimination based on this. My conscience is clear. I consider the construction of Ram Mandir Ayodhya as a bad omen for world peace and tolerance, not based on the religious identity bestowed by my elders, but in the light of my conscience. Modi Sahib has given the news of Hindutva system for a thousand years. 

A composition of a thousand years has a historical background. In 800 CE, Charlemagne, the ruler of Europe, founded the Holy Roman Empire. Exactly one thousand years later, this kingdom died in 1806 during Napoleon's campaigns. Dictators around the world dream of this dark millennium. Addressing the Sixth Congress of the Nazi Party in Nuremberg on September 10, 1934, Hitler announced that the Nazi Empire would last for a thousand years. Exactly eleven years later, in the flames rising from Hitler's dead body in the bunker in Berlin, the dream of a thousand years of Nazi power was also consumed. Prejudice is not a thousand years old. Bias must wait for January 1, 1863 and April 30, 1945. Narendra Modi may win the next election by building a temple in Ayodhya, but 73-year-old Narendra Modi has no control over the dynamics of history. In America, Donald Trump is also dreaming of racial discrimination. Zahiruddin Babur's commander Mir Baqi may have had a similar dream when he built the Babri Masjid at Ayodhya in 1528 to commemorate Babur's victories. Then he did not know about the death of Aurangzeb Alamgir in 1707 and the fall of the Mughal Empire.

The basic tragedy of power is that it is difficult to peer into the future amid the glare of millions of torches and creatures shouting their allegiance. For this, historical awareness is needed. There is an inevitable contradiction between authoritarianism and historical consciousness. 

We have seen many ups and downs of history in our country. There is no word of secularism in our Constitution. We have collectively rejected the vision of our forefathers. Nevertheless, the brave sons and daughters of Pakistan never let die the dream that every citizen of Pakistan should get the status of an equal citizen without any discrimination on the basis of colour, race, language, culture and creed. Narendra Modi has deviated from the vision of Pandit Nehru. We are proud that we have remained loyal to the guidelines given by the Quaid-i-Azam. We know that no nation can achieve greatness merely on the basis of economy, population and area. The sustainable development of nations rests on a simple principle and that is that every citizen should realize equal status and rights in his country without any discrimination. A partisan state crushes this feeling. Therefore, such a state becomes a victim of injustice and division. It may be hard to understand in the current frenzy of success and power, but the politicians of hate from Asia to Europe and from Africa to America should know that bigotry is not a thousand years old.

 

In the cobblestone roads of an old city, where murmurs of history reverberation through the thin roads, there is a story as old as could be expected. This is an account of Prejudice, woven into the texture of human life, however it's anything but a remnant of the past. It is a no-nonsense power that develops as time passes.

Envision a clamoring commercial center, where shippers from all over meet up to exchange their products. Among them, a voyager with a tanned chest and eye variety that mirrors the insight of his predecessors. However, regardless of his insight and ability, he faces doubt and hatred basically on the grounds that he is of unfamiliar plunge.

Or on the other hand consider a town settled in the slopes, where the species reside as one with the land. In any case, when a newbie communicates in a language new to the locals, dread flourishes like weeds in ripe soil. Reports spread like quickly, proclaiming the outsider a danger to their lifestyle, essentially in light of the fact that he is unique.

Indeed, even in the blessed lobbies of the scholarly world, where illumination rules, fanaticism hides. An understudy, anxious to learn and grow her viewpoints, winds up disregarded and underestimated as a result of her orientation. In spite of her knowledge and energy, she isn't thought of as deserving of chances as her male partners.

Prejudice isn't a remnant of a past period. It is a no-nonsense element that flourishes in the hearts and brains of people. It knows no limits of time or space, and it can show up to wreak havoc in the most surprising conditions. Until humankind figures out how to embrace variety and celebrate distinction, fanaticism will keep on creating its shaded area over our reality, a never-ending sign of our aggregate shortfalls.